“May I ask when you first met the gentleman?”
“Last Monday week. So she forbade the marriage. I am myself of an impatient disposition.”
“So am I,” observed the Duke of Belleville, and in the interest of the discussion he became so forgetful as to withdraw his feet from the shelter of the table and cross one leg comfortably over the other. “So am I,” he repeated, nodding his head.
“I therefore determined to live my own life in my own way——”
“I think you said you had been to college?”
“Yes, but I had a difference of——”
“Quite so. Pray proceed,” said the Duke courteously.
“And to run away with my fiancé. In pursuance of this plan, I arranged to meet him to-night at his villa at Hampstead. He sent a brougham to fetch me, I made my escape successfully, and the rest you know.”
“Pardon me, but up to this point the part played by the flagon which you see on the table before you is somewhat obscure.”
“Oh, when you’d gone to pack his things, he took out a curious little instrument—he said he had forgotten his key—and opened the cabinet on the mantelpiece. Then he took out that pretty mug and gave it to me as my wedding present. He told me that it was very valuable, and he would carry it for me himself, but I declared that I must carry it for myself or I wouldn’t go. So he let me. And then you——”